Whoooooooooooooooooah ...

Day 108 - Tuesday 29 April 2008

















I've definitely arrived in New Zealand ...

That's me in the front right (left as you look at this!) seat plunging down the world's highest commercially rafted vertical drop in the WORLD ... it's 7 metres high and that's why you disappear into the churning water below for a few seconds before (it feels like slowly) popping up again triumphantly ... I was first of our raft up and this is my head gasping for air again (you can just about make out it's me if you do all the nearly always needed 'left click' for the big photograph!)















I thought this would prove that everything you've heard about this country is true ... it's all about the outdoors, being healthy, enjoying the fresh air (and water), stunning scenery, spectacular activities ... and I've only seen the top fraction of it ... I might be falling in love!

Yesterday I decided to jump right into the New Zealand activity thing and white water rafted the Kaituna River close to Rotorua - it's a Grade 5 rated stretch that's the highest you can commercially raft - we back paddled to a halt just before the unraftable Grade 6 stretch - but forward paddled headlong into everything else - top marks to Baz at the back of our raft in blue of this top sports photograph who's busy guiding us safely towards another drop - there were 3 big ones between 3 metres and 7 metres that soaked me every time (in cold New Zealand water that tasted - it's impossible not to swallow a bit - about as fresh as you could get!)














So I've ticked Auckland off the list (after much waiting around at both Santiago and Auckland airports that saw me take to sketching airport activities in my Moleskin for something to do!)

Auckland's a fab place that has a San Francisco vibe fused alongside the ubiquitous British flavour of New Zealand - it's called the city of sails because of the incredibly plentiful harbours around the Waitemata (east) and Manukau (west) Bays - I headed over to the quaint, quiet, paradise of Devonport - it's a stunning ferry ride commute into the city of Auckland that must be hell if you have to do it every day ... ;-)

I also got a trip up Mount Eden (we're right around the Pacific Ring of Fire here and Auckland has loads of volcanoes including Eden) and a tour of the Auckland Museum courtesy of Keith - Keith and Elizabeth are friends of Geoff and Margaret Cravens and it was a needed day back in reality - Elizabeth provided my first home cooked meal for 106 days - bless them for making em feel so welcome!

Here's a view back to Auckland from the top of yet another volcano Mount Victoria in Devonport - by the way whoever's keeping a list of Jez's favourite places you can add Devonport to Ollantaytambo in Peru and Moan in Utah, USA - that's the base for the New Zealand navy middle right and the Skytower dominating the Auckland skyline (I went up it for another top view of sea and volcanoes!)











And here I am holed up in geo-thermal Rotorua (although I'm on the 13:15 Inter City Coachlines trip striking south for Tongariro National Park)

Rotorua is full of holes in the ground that let you see the earth's core - well kind of - it's like a chemistry experiment of a town with the smell of hydrogen sulphide pervading downtown if the wind's in the right direction - the heat from these holes adds a very mysterious atmosphere in the largest site at Kuirau Park if it's pissing down with rain - which it is (well I guess I expected it of New Zealand) - the whole place feels like Isla Nublar from Jurassic Park - think steamy!











New Zealand feels like a haven after South America and I guess I shouldn't rate it too quickly - after the craziness and edginess of my last continent anywhere more developed would feel like a breath of fresh air - but I can already get a sense that this is a brilliant, safe society that's got an incredible amount of it's social house in order - but here's a few early observations:

The Maori culture is everywhere and their heritage has been preserved incredibly well (I guess ancestral American Indians would be kind of envious?) - from what I pick up a huge amount of credit has to go to the Maori people for fighting their corner - but also to the 'pakhera' (anyone else in new Zealand who isn't a Maori) for playing their part in fusing the 2 peoples together into such a great society (it's also contentious and the Treaty of Waitangi is a political hot potato!) - I also blasted through a book about Maori culture from the 1680s (pre-Europeans) - based in the mountains of the North Island it's full of paddle weapons, warring tribes, cannibalism and natural forces - I just hope it was accurate - mind you - it was recommended by a very nice man in the best second hand book shop I've visited in the world (I guess lines like that from me are getting more meaning the further around the world I get!)

I visited the town of Ohinemutu and found the usual amazingly detailed Maori wood carvings - the eyes are shells - now this is skill - and kicks ass compared to the letter opener I made using a lathe at Newent Comprehensive School!














The museums are really hands on and people get stuck into touching old Maori war canoes - in many places I've visited that stuff's strictly off limits! - and even the small town of Rotorua has an incredible museum

The backpacking industry is big, big business and the iSite Information Centres in each town all add up to making travelling so, so, so, so easy - it's no surprise that the hostels are full of youngsters (I'm the oldest here at Base in Rotorua for the first time on my journey) - and that's good - a message for all you parents out there - when your kids reach 21 send them here for a month to aid their trip to adulthood - it'll make them and you'll know they're really safe, socialising and having the best time!

The 'flat white' coffee is not drip coffee, not latte, not cappuccino - but a fusion of all 3 and a delight!

And not a New Zealand observation but a Jezervation from yesterday - I just wanted a normal coffee for a change - and couldn't remember what it would be called in the UK - it was the first trigger that I've been away so long I kind of can't remember stuff from 'home' - I guess it's because everywhere is home - I'm loving that feeling and it's justified why I wanted to come away for such a long time - I may change that comment in a few months though!

And so my journey down the North Island's about to continue and I'll leave our 'team' of rafters that smashed it's way past an abandoned, rusting hydro-electric power station, soaked up rainbow drenched waterfalls, jumped out of the raft into crystal clear waters and generally loved just a standard Monday morning here in New Zealand ...